I would think that you could do more than 1 an hour......I planted 5 - 4' white pines last week in 2 hours digging by hand, composting and watering, customer didn't want stakes.... no warranty - they bought the trees.....I got $180.00.
Labor, material and mileage.

I would at a minimum rent a mini loader with an auger.....for that many trees....

LawnScapers of Dayton(formerly know as DRM Ventures, Ltd.)

'My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it.' - Barack Obama

if you stagger them it looks liek you have more trees than you actuyally have, as the row looks deeper. but straight line you can strech it out a bit further too.

Five 4 foot trees in 2 hours is good work... andmy hours are based on VA rock/clay soils. Id liek to see you after 70 trees what your time per tree is...

I would imagine, that the trees are not going to be located exactly where they are going to be planted, so you will have to move the trees, plus you also need to count in your travel time to and from the job site each day

Back in my TGLC days, based on their bidding for enhancement projects.

i woudl have 77 hours of planting labor
6 hours of travel time(one hours each day)
6 hours of watering time(one hours each day
3 hours of clean up time(1/2 hour each day)
70 bagsof compost @ 3.00
total is 92 hours, two guys 16 man hours each day -5.75 days

at a 60% GP you have 3900 bucks.

If you rent a skid loader for three days @190 each day you would cut hours down to 47, and Save your clinet seven hundred bucks....But you would also save 3 days of labor. $3200

TGLc was "cheap" for lack of better term on their labor rates. around the $40 mark.....

if you charge 3200 with the skid loader and compost. you will have 780 in materials cost, wich leave you with 2411, divided by 47 man hours, you are "making" $51.30 per hour.

I say "making" in that I am taking the 60% markup on the materials, and 30% markup on the rental, and including it in your labor rate. if you take out the markup on both items, it brings you down to $40 per hour, but for the 70 bags of compost you are charging 550, on a driect cost of 210, and for the skid loader you are charging 814, on a direct cost of 570.

now at 60 per man hour...you price jumps to $4182 with the loader (60 bucks per tree)
with out the loader you price is 6068, $1000 a day (86 bucks per tree)..... I'll still stick to my 1.1 hour per tree, in that after teh first or second day....production is gonna drop...

Mind you this is all based on an 8 hour work day with 1/2 hour of paid travel time morning and nite. so if you work longer days, you'll save travel hours.

By my math, if you use the skid loader, you will profit 2265 (754 per day) after paying your employees(including yoruself if you work), materials , and rental. assuming you can plant 1 tree every 30 minutes. If you can increas that productivity to 15 minutes per tree, you will be on ther job for two days, making a profit of 1475, or 700 per day

by not using the skid loader you will profit 3641 (606 per day)
so the skid loader would net the least of money in your pocket, but would ties you up for 1/2 the time...

If you think the client can handle paying 80 bucks to install a 40 dollar tree. Jump at it, and then rent your loader and be out of there in 3 days, give your worker a c-note on top of his pay for the great job, and start sipping your margarita's a few days early.

Also remember that you will need to get Miss Utility to mark the site(cover your azz), and you will need to repair any damage your skid loader does (tracks, ect.)

I would use one day to auger my hole, and while I am augering with the machine (8 minutes per hole), my laborer will be dropping the bag of compost at each hole and possibly beging to mix some of the soil and compost. The second day I would utilize the loader to move the trees and drop them in each hole and while I am moving and droping trees, my laborer is back filling. and watering on the third day you finish up any last trees and call the machine off rent and water everything real good collect check and go home.

Remember, try to upsell on mulching the trees. better water rentention, ect...mulch would add about ten more hours and 600 bucks profit....

I dont think it would take that long, Id say 2-3 days tops. Rent yourself a Kubota B-21, depending on the size of the ball of the arb. you can get 3 to 5 in the front bucket and then have the hoe on the back to dig the holes. One guy on the machine and 2 guys planting the arbs. Get yourself 2 poles and a long string line. Id get $60-80/hr. Id say about $1500-1800.00 for the job.